How Did We End Up Here?
by Nunnya Buiznes
Summary: One Shot. Lily Evans has always disliked Potter and his friends for the things they did, but now they've gone overboard in their pranks by hurting a close friend. Will Lily's revenge actually bring love between our favorite couple?


Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to a Genius, I'm no Einstein.

"**How Did We End Up Here?"**

_Nunnya Buiznes_

"Stupid…"

Left foot,

"Idiotic Potter…"

Right foot,

"Absolutely stupid…"

The complaints of young and beautiful seventeen year old Lily Evans

disappeared into the air as she trudged through the January snow. Her

attempt to calm herself by counting the footings she took as she made her

way to the castle wasn't working. Her red hair was a complete contrast of

color to the dead life around her. The trees bare, the lake frozen and silent,

even words died as they erupted from your mouth in a puff of fog.

Emerald eyes glanced ahead as Lily wrapped her arms tighter around

herself. She'd left Potter in Hogsmeade with a sore genital area after it had

a meeting with her knee. He'd been clever enough to forge a message from

her friend saying to meet there… she should have known.

Her feet met a familiar hard step as she reached the front of Hogwarts.

Lily sniffled as she continued, rather hastily this time, into the warmth the

school had to offer. She burst through the doors and shrugged off her

cloak as she sauntered into the Great Hall where the view of three friends

greeted her. One adorable, with dark ringlets falling on her shoulders and

pink dimpled cheeks that pushed out in a smile, this was Hestia Jones.

Black haired flirt of the year, Lily's eyes sparkled as the rested on her best

friend who was currently getting crushed in wizard's chess by another

acquaintance of hers. It was a slightly younger girl sixteen really, slender

and tall with high cheekbones and hair the color of corn when it's

harvested, her eyes like milk chocolate emitted warmth only few could give.

Those brown eyes glanced upwards and the corners of her mouth pulled in

a smile. "Hello Lily" the melodic voice greeted.

Lily ground her teeth together, still furious at Potter. "Hello Marlene" she

bit out before slamming her cloak over the end of the table with a smack

and sitting down across from the girl and next to Hestia. Lily tried to calm

herself as she glanced at the game. Hestia was doomed… why on earth did

she even play? Surely she'd figured out by now that she didn't do to well

at wizard's chess… perhaps she had a newfound hope after her latest fling,

a rather nerdy Hufflepuff, tried to teach her how to play. Hestia, as if

sensing her thoughts sighed and slapped her hands on the side of the table

while slowly turning her head with an accusing glare towards Lily.

"If you aren't going to help me why are you here?" she asked. "I

thought I set you up for a full day date… you weren't even gone an hour!"

she exclaimed her baby blue eyes staring into Lily's green so intently that it

almost made her feel guilty for a second.

Wait… guilty? Lily's eyes widened as her jaw dropped. "You set me up

with Potter? I thought he'd forged that note!" she exclaimed angrily only

to receive a secretive smile.

"Guilty" Hestiasighed moving a piece before cringing when Marlene's

knight smashed it to pieces. Hestia's blue eyes looked back to her friend.

"I haven't seen you on a date in a long… well never so I thought you

needed some fun. I mean James Potter… I know you actually have secret

feelings for him from the amount of talking you do on the subject." She

said referring to Lily always complaining about a certain hazel eyed chaser.

Lily rolled her almond shaped eyes and growled. She glared at her friend

witha look that said 'shut up'. Stupid truth or dare games with actual truth

potion… another friend, Emmeline Vancehad connections to get those

sorts of things. Brushing a strand of her long and wavy red hair behind her

ear she shook her head. "I think you're mental Hestia." She said simply

before turning to Marlene who'd been listening intently and the girl by her

side who seemed interested in nothing but painting her nails with a nasty

emerald color that just didn't look right on nails.

"Do you not agree?" she asked them in a dangerous voice, her hands

were clenched at her side, Hestia may have been her best friend but this

was uncalled for, "Marley? Emme?"

The girl with the green nails swirled around to face Lily; her chestnut

eyes glanced around confused before she flipped her braid of brown hair

over her shoulder and smack into Marley's face. "Sorry" she apologized

wide-eyed after she noticed she'd hurt Marlene.

"'s Okay" Marley said as she began to pack her chess set into her bag,

refusing to comment on Lily's question.

The brunette, Emme, or Emmeline looked back to Lily. "We all know

Hestia's insane but I agree that you need a break. After head girl duties and

top student homework you should have some fun… like me." She said

showing her pearly whites. Emmeline's interest in the topic left as she

picked up a muggle nail file and began to shape her rather long nails.

Hestia turned to the girl with a death stare, "We all know **you** have tons

of fun… have you even seen your last astronomy score?" she asked

accusingly.

Emmeline glanced up with an innocent look on her face, "What test

score?" she replied before going back to her nails.

Marley let out a loud snort as she closed her bag and raised one blond

eyebrow at Emmeline. "Do you even bother looking anymore Emme?" she

asked with a disapproving shake of the head which caused her shoulder

length hair to flop across her nose.

Lily groaned while placing her hands on the table and standing up. "'Eh,

girls lets stop this… we're not first years anymore" she scolded making the

others look at her… Lily Evans angry was a rather scary concept.

Emmeline actually dropped her nail file when she jumped at the sound of

Lily's voice. "Now take a deep breath" she finished, conducting deep

breaths around the table. Only Marlene really obeyed. Breathing in, holding,

and breathing out. Hestia took a small breath and Emmeline had just given

Lily an odd look.

"Alright, well I'm out of here, got a date with Sirius, must get ready."

Hestia said, her eyes glittering mischievously. She stood up and twirled a

strand of her silk-like black hair before walking off in the direction of the

Gryffindor common room. Lily sighed, she'd kill Hestia tomorrow.

Emmeline quirked an eyebrow at Lily "What happened to the

Hufflepuff?" she asked only to receive a shrug.

Lily stood up and grabbed her cloak from beside her. "Want to come

with me to the Library?" she asked the other two. "I've got a Care of

Magical Creatures essay to write, the whole thing is on the crossbreeding

of hippogriffs I thought I ought to get a head start on it."

Emmeline shook her head declining the offer politely, "There's a

Ravenclaw over there who's been eyeing me the whole time." She said with

a very Hestia-like smile.

Lily turned to Marlene who'd kept her head down and stared at the

table. "What about you Marley?" she asked sweetly.

Marlene's head whipped up in surprise. "Oh, erm sure…" she answered

before standing up. With a shy smile she slung her bag over her shoulder.

Lily smiled and walked to the other side of the table, bent down and

whispered in Emmeline's ear, "Good luck, he's sure a looker." She said

referring to the Ravenclaw boy before walking out of the Great Hall with

Marlene close behind her. They walked up the staircases and through the

hallways in silence, those awkward silences that you always tried to avoid.

It made Lily frustrated, why did Marley have to be so damn shy? She'd

ask her questions that were on the top of her list of topic starters only to

receive a yes, no, or a maybe. Lily almost sang for joy when she saw the

doors to the library, she held the door politely for Marlene and received a

meek "Thank you" in return. Lily rolled her eyes as Marlene went off to a

table in the corner of the room and set her bag down. Lily waited until

Marlene had disappeared behind a shelf to toss her cloak on the table as

well. She bit the side of her cheek as she walked over to the magical

creatures research area, two whole isles of shelves that reached to the

ceiling most of the books dusty from a lack of use. She searched for a

while, her finger skimming titles before opening a book and peering through

it only to be disappointed at its lack of information.

"I think this might help you."

Lily jumped at the sound and twirled around to see Marlene smiling sweetly

and holding out a leather-bound book.

"I asked the librarian where I could find some information for your

essay and she said the school just ordered this book." Marlene said.

Lily took the book from her and glanced at the title, 'The Crossbreeding

of Hippogriffs' Lily groaned at how clever Marlene was, ask the librarian.

Duh. "Thanks Marley… did you find what you were looking for?" Marlene

shook her head 'yes' as Lily walked over to the table, Marlene followed

and sat down across from here.

"Thanks by the way, that's really nice of you." Lily said before opening the

book and skimming its contents.

"Your welcome" Marley said softly.

Lily looked up; she'd finally had enough of Marley's shyness, or rather

she'd had enough today… she'd been stressed out by approaching

NEWTs and everything else that had been going on. "Marley… you can

speak up you know, well don't yell because we're in a library and all but

you don't need to act like I'm going to bite your head off." She said

shaking her head in desperation, red strands drifting across her face, a few

landed in her mouth. "Pffft" Lily spat trying to cleanse her mouth of the

hair. She giggled, embarrassed, and looked back at Marlene with a smile.

Surprisingly Marlene had her hand in front of her mouth and was

laughing slightly, well more like snorting but it was better than quiet

Marlene. Lily smiled; she'd known the girl for a few years. They never

became close though, she always tagged along with Emmeline. Even when

the prefects got together Marlene remained quiet and let the other

Ravenclaw prefect speak, the polite Hello and Goodbye were all that

passed between the two. So even with the horrid morning with Potter, Lily

could crack a real smile. "Thanks Marlene" Lily said before slinging her

cloak over her shoulder and leaving with the book in her hand. Marlene

smiled knowing exactly what Lily had meant.

Shaking her hair back over her shoulder Lily clutched the book for her

essay to her chest. Approaching the painting of the fat lady she smiled.

"Hello, how are you today?" she asked, however many times she did this it

still felt ridiculous, though the portrait was much nicer when she did.

"Just wonderful Darling… Password?" the lady asked.

Lily smiled charmingly, "Ooodleump" she replied. The fat lady smiled

as the portrait swung open to reveal the hole to the common room. Lily

stepped inside expecting everyone to be gone at Hogsmeade only to hear

the sound of someone crying. Worry- wrinkles bunched up her forehead as

she frowned. Walking silently on her tiptoes she followed the noise to the

edge of the room, where she saw a person sitting in the windowsill. Who

she saw made her gasp.

"Hestia?" she shrieked running over to her friend and wrapping her arms

around her. Lily had always been the motherly type. No one ever made her

friends cry. "Hesi, what's wrong?" she asked soothingly.

Hestia wiped her eyes; her mascara had run giving her the appearance of

a raccoon. She would have looked lovely if not for the smudged make-up

and sour look on her face. Lily knew automatically what went wrong: The

Date. Lily detached her arms from the trembling girl and sat in the other

edge of the window sill. She shivered slightly at the cold chill that crept

through the window and looked up at Hestia, knees pulled up to her chin

and arms wrapped around them sadly. It was a pathetic state to see Hestia

in. She hadn't been this bad with break-ups ever since she first dated

Fabian Prewett in her fifth year, nasty break-up they had. Fabian had gone

celebrating his completion of NEWTs with his ex girlfriend Andromeda

Black. Needless to say after her first real boyfriend Hestia had never been

the same.

"Why does it always happen to me?" Hestia whimpered blinking tears

away once more. "Peter walked up to me when I was waiting for Sirius at

Three Broomsticks and said that he wasn't feeling good. I saw him later

with that… that tramp, Selene McKay." Hestia took in a deep breath and

glanced out the window, strands of her black hair were plastered to her

face by the tears she'd shed. "It doesn't even stop there, he spotted me

and smiled, I had to act natural so when he waved I walked over there and

he insisted on introducing me to his girlfriend and I to her as 'the girl on the

quidditch team' "she continued "I mean Lily we've been dating on and off

for a month, Yes I know I've dated others too." She said when Lily gave

her an odd look. "But I mean, he wasn't even nice about it, he acted like he

barely even knew me. Worse even, I turned to leave and I saw Peter and

James laughing… Remus was there too but you know him. He never really

gets into these things." Hestia finished wiping another tear from her eye;

she sniffled a bit before burying her face on her knees again.

Lily's jaw was clenched. Her eyes were a mix of furry and sympathy.

How dare they do that? Her mind screamed. Oh those boys were going to

pay, and it was about time too. Always torturing Severus Snape and other

unlucky passerby's with their silly pranks. Now Hestia… no one ever did

these things to her best friend. Hestia had protected her from many nasty

rumors and now it was her turn to help out her friend. Payback was on its

way. Lily stood up quietly ready to hunt down Sirius and teach him a

lesson. As she walked once more out of the common room, her book

forgotten on the window sill, Hestia peered up slowly. A look of

satisfaction and mischief glittered in her eyes.

Lily Evans was once again furious; though it was a common thing for

her she'd never truly been this irate. Color flushed through her cheeks and

her hair was flung back wildly, swaying as she walked like flames licking

the air. The hallways had become crowded as dinner was approaching. Lily

pushed and shoved her way through the crowd, certain that she'd find

Potter and Black showing off somewhere. Sure enough she was right. Well

half right, as she approached the great hall she saw Potter with Peter and

Remus laughing… automatically she thought of Hestia. Her fists clenched

she stomped over to them. James turned around at an unexpected tap on

his shoulder; a lopsided smile crossed his face as he ran a hand through his

untidy black hair. Lily stood there, her arms crossed over her chest and her

foot tapping impatiently.

"Why my fair Lily, I feared I would never see you again." He said

dramatically. Peter snickered beside James. Lily glared at him. The short

and chubby blonde stopped immediately as if someone had cast a stunning

spell. Lily ignored him once he began to scratch his acne.

"I don't know Potter, perhaps you should fill me in on what's going on…"

spat Lily accusingly.

James' hazel eyes widened slightly, "What? I haven't done anything!" he

exclaimed.

"Pfft!" Lily muttered "As if you don't know!" she yelled. By now the pair

had caught the eyes of most around them, Remus had engaged in

conversation with a young third year in attempt to stay out of it. A jumbled

sound came from James' mouth before Lily punched him in the nose. "I'm

sick of this!" she yelled, the volcano of Lily had exploded. "You're always

ruining people's lives! Mine in particular!" she screeched. "Now you and your friends are after Hestia! She never did anything to you! I… I hate

you!" she finished, her face now as red as her hair and her green eyes still

glaring. Potter stood there; hand over his nose with droplets of blood

seeping through. Lily pivoted and marched off pushing through a clatter of

girls ready to fawn over James. Slowly a tear formed in the corner of her

eye. He made her so frustrated! Acting like he truly wanted to court her and

then hurting her best friend. Honestly!

"Lily!"

She faltered for a moment… why was he so persistent? Picking up the

pace she continued to wherever her feet decided to take her.

"Lily Wait!" James screamed again as he ran forward. He'd healed his

nose quickly; it hadn't been broken or anything but bloodstains still

marked his white shirt. Finally he caught her, his hand rested on her arm

and she spun around, the tears still in her eyes but fury marking her face.

"Please Lily, just listen. I have no idea what you're talking about I swear!"

he said desperately, shaking his head. "I haven't evencursed Snivilly yet,

let alone hurt Hestia." He said. His breathing was harsh after running after

her, Lily looked up.

Hazel clashed with emerald.

"How can I believe you?" Lily whispered; she was not in the mood for

another fight. "But I will remind you of what's wrong anyways. Sirius and

you obviously planned on embarrassing my poor friend in Three

Broomsticks. They had a date you know… her and Sirius. From what I've

heard you and your little puppet friends stood off to the side and laughed

while she was made a fool." Lily whimpered, the tear leaked down the side

of her face. "It makes me absolutely sick…" she finished.

James was horrified. "Lily… Sirius wasn't with me this afternoon. He

said he had family business he had to take care of… I… I really don't

know what going on." He said again. Lily tried to speak but James began

again, his hand reached for hers as he pulled her closer to him "Why can't

you just trust me for once? You've never even given me a chance…

Merlin's beard Lily! I've liked you for four years now and you've rejected

me ever time I asked you out. Now it's down to this. You always thinking

I'm the reason bad things happen, and me begging you to just listen to

me."

Lily looked up confused… could James actually be sincere? Lily took

her chance… she supposed she could either miss out on a great thing or

just embarrass herself. It was worth the chance. "I…I just never thought

you really liked me James." She stuttered, the problem momentarily

forgotten. "I liked you a lot but I didn't want to have my heart broken… I

mean you're that kind of guy. A heart-breaker." She said looking at her

shoes. James placed a finger under her chin and tilted it upward to look

him straight in the eye.

"No Lily, you're unique, feisty even. I've never had a girl back talk me like

you do. Not only do you have a great personality but you're beautiful and

smart as I'm sure you know." He said. Lily smiled slightly.

"This is sure a change of pace then eh? How did we end up here

anyways?" she asked letting out a giggle. "I mean, wasn't I beating you up

a few minutes ago?"

James smiled, "Care to go on a date sometime? I think I deserve a few

of them for what you did to my nose, and what happened this morning

especially with the fact that I was innocent and all."

Lily blushed, "Sorry about that…I suppose that would be okay, maybe

once or twice." she muttered, still a bit insecure about this.

The corners of James' mouth lifted in a smile. "May I perhaps have a

kiss as an apology?" James asked with a wink. Lily rolled her eyes; she

supposed James would always be somewhat cocky. She slapped him in

the arm before surprising him by standing on her tip-toes and giving him a

peck on the cheek.

The blush rose on her cheeks but before either could say anything a

whispering voice was heard around the corner.

"That was all?"

"Shhh!" sounds of scolding were heard before James pulled out his wand

and pointed it towards the eavesdroppers. Three people scattered out

before they were cursed. Sirius Black, with his dark brown eyes and

perfect black hair. A smug smile was on his face as he looked at the

couple. The second was expected, Peter Pettigrew, gray eyes fearful and

dirty blond hair in disarray. Then Hestia Jones, with a twin smile of Sirius'.

"Hesi?" Lily's jaw dropped.

"Sorry Lily, we would have given you lovebirds a few extra make-out

minutes but Petey here decided to be annoying. I do make a lovely actress

though don't I?" she said flipping her curly black hair around in a

glamorous way.

James got the accusations before Lily could, "What the hell do you all

think you're doing?" he asked rather furious, realization dawned on him in

a moment though. "Sirius mate you set me up!" he exclaimed, "I can't

believe you!"

Hestia looked at the two "Well it worked didn't it? I mean it's so

annoying to have both you moping around because you like each other and

you never actually go on a date. Alright I was sick of it! So, I and my

brilliant mind formed a plan that would for sure get Lily to have an actual

conversation with you." She finished.

Lily pulled out her wand as well and pointed it at them, "Well I suggest

that if you have any sense you should leave and reconsider

eavesdropping." She said dangerously. Peter was the first to scatter; Sirius

held his hands up in surrender before running off and Hestia gave her a

wink before swaying her hips in a celebration strut down the Hogwarts

hallways.

Lily turned back, "Now where were we?" she asked mischievously.

James smiled before leaning down for their first actual kiss.

The End

Authors note: Comments? Mistakes? Want to edit my story? Please hold the flames though constructive criticism is welcomed with open arms! I want to improve my writing but I don't want the fun to be taken out of it by insults. Just a short one-shot I wrote. Well only story I've finished butI had fun writing it. I just hope someone out there likes it.


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